Berlin Wall Tour – private tour through the life and stories from East Berlin

„All free men, wherever they may live, are citizens of Berlin, and, therefore, as a free man, I take pride in the words: Ich bin ein Berliner!“ June 26, 1963, U.S. President John F. Kennedy (1917-1963) in West Berlin

Themes of our private Berlin Wall Tour: Berlin Wall, Cold War, spy swap, life in divided Berlin, everyday life in East and West, East-West German division, guided tour through the Berlin’s districts Mitte and Prenzlauer Berg…

Ask us like for specific fields or let you be taken on a general tour. Write us how much time you have for a tour or which are the interest that are moving you. We will make a customized proposal.

Even before the end of World War II did Berlin crystallize in a particular way as the center of an emerging East-West conflict. The Berlin Wall, built by the GDR regime on August 13th, 1961, eventually led to the division of Berlin into a democratic West and a dictatorial East. Even twenty years after the fall, the Berlin Wall reminds of the former division of Berlin and the Cold War.

Join us on an exciting private tour and learn more about the famous Berlin Wall. We describe the development of the barbed wire fence into the highly sophisticated double wall system, with the “death strip” in the middle. We take you back to the times of the Cold War in Berlin, and tell you of dramatic escape attempts and espionage actions. We take you to the most important theaters of the East-West conflict and show you what was left over from the “real socialism”.

Your personal guide

Let us show you the Berlin Wall by a Berlin city guide with historical knowledge and personal anecdotes. Who better to bring the history of the East-West division to life than an local of the districts where it took place?

Our team stands out not only through knowledge (almost all are academics), but also by their personal issues (almost all had been living in Berlin during the time of the Wall)! You will be very impressed.

Some places of interest on the private Berlin Wall Tour

In addition to numerous unknown places & stories, discover different places of interst. Here a small selection.

The tower of the Great Wall Museum is the best place to survey the structure of the double wall system incl. the “death strip”. We tell you about the breakneck escape attempts, of death jumps and escape tunnels. We accompany you to a memorial chapel, where once stood a church. The building stood in the death strip and was blown in 1986.

The central boulevard of the communist East Berlin, a imposing act whose architectural inspiration can be found mainly in Moscow… After first attempts in the style of the Bauhaus in 1950 was introduced the style “Stalin Gothic”. The motto was “Palaces for the workers”. Embarrassing from the perspective of governance – it is mostly here during the construction, that the population rose up June 17th, 1953. Until 1962 stood Stalin on the avenue as larger than life Statue. We will show you what it left of Stalin during of coffee…

The remarkably modest monument in honor of the fathers of communism, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, who watch still today on the social justice in the country… From here you have a good view of Europe’s highest TV tower, at the time the symbol of victorious communism. What about the golden cross on the TV tower?

As a result of the policy of Mikhail Gorbachev, the torpor of senile GDR government and a big mess within the political apparatus in East Berlin, several thousand GDR citizens stood on the evening of November 9th, 1989 in front of the border crossing at Bornholmer street. An overwhelmed officer had to decide and left the turnpike open. We follow with you the traces of the protesting citizens and let these incredible events come to life again.

The headquarter of the “State Security” (“Stasi”) and the head of the giant “Ministry for State Security”, Erich Mielke, were operating from here. The visitor is surprised about the relatively spartan office furnishings of Stasi boss, an absolute diehard communist. One is faced with unsettling odor samples containing the sweat of interrogated victims, preserved in jars. The premises appear to illustrate the term “banality of evil”.

A huge monument of the hand of a Russian sculptor against the backdrop of “modern” socialist housing, a shrine to the former party chairman who had brought the German Communist Party on a Stalinist course in the 20’s and who later has been victim of the Nazis. He is THE martyr of the communist Germany, named the “Thälmann Youth”. Everyone knew him – a cult figure… Anyhow, one had the courage after 1989 to leave the Thälmann Memorial. But Lenin out of red sandstone in front of the Place of United Nations has disappeared…

After its destruction in World War II, it was rebuilt as one of the main squares of the modern “capital of the GDR”. “The House of the Teacher” was and is still here, adorned with a mosaic belt which evokes the gaiety of life in “real socialism”, as well as the “Central department store” and the former “Hotel Berlin City”, named today Forum Hotel. “Alex” is today not anymore the glamorous place as it was then, but today more than back then a place of the “real” Berlin. Teens go shopping between sausage vendors and newspaper shops and wait for their loved ones at the World Time Clock.

A brown mark indicates today the spot where Peter Fechter was shot on August 17th, 1962. Right next to it: the famous border to the American sector to East Berlin. Experience the historical significance of the place and feel the drama of the moment, as here – during one of the most dangerous crises of the “Cold War” – the tank columns of the Soviet Union and the United States faced each other…